His reputation, preceding him here in Cincinnati, was that Dusty Baker has never been enamored with young ball players. Loved veterans, cringed at the thought of playing a kid. Dusty has denied that to the Cincinnati media. But then, we see this, on yahoo.com today.

Proof will be how it plays out, not how it reads.

Xavier keeps rolling. Another win Thursday night. What stops this team this season? Maybe a post up offense that features a dominating big man. But how many teams like that will Xavier face before the elite eight?

Done deal, Josh Fogg signs with the Reds. Love it, absolutely love it. Why send two good prospects to the Oakland A's for Joe Blanton, when you can sign a free agent for $1 million. Fogg is no Blanton. But the price for Blanton, who pitched half his games in the spacious Oakland stadium was far too high. If Fogg winds up winning 12 this season, which he could with the Reds offense, it'll be a steal.

Check out the countdown to Opening Day on the home page of my blog http://kenbroo.blogspot.com, if you're not already there. Then really get into the mood with this, from my man Freekbass

Freekbass is a protege of the legendary Bootsy Collins, a local guy who is red hot on the college circuit. He'll tour Europe and Japan this summer. You can check him out at http://www.freekbass.com/. Check out his podcasts.

I'm no mathmatician, but it seems to me the number in this salary cap report don't add up to a championship atmosphere for our Cincinnati Bengals. Good homework by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Wherever you are tonight, I hope you're a lot warmer than we'll be here in the Tri-State. Cincinnati is headed for a low of 9* and then more snow and ice on Thursday.

But there are a lot of things heating up. Not the least of which is Kelvin Sampson's situation in Indiana. He appears headed for a rough fall....and his spring isn't shaping up so hot either. Look at what espn.com is saying about Kelvin today. I tend to agree with the scenario: suspend him, probably with pay and then gather more information. To allow Sampson to coach under this latest scrutiny for continuing bad behavior would be a travesty.

Meantime, down in the fun and sun, every Reds position player is in camp. Bob Castellini showed up today, spreading a little sunshine himself. He says he believes the Reds will be in the NL Central division race all season, not a tough thing considering it one of the weakest in major league baseball.

My guess is, this story isn't going away. And neither is the federal government's interest in who's lying, Clemens or his accuser, Brian McNamee. Good story here from Associate Press TV.

Meantime, scroll down on this story from the Ft. Worth Star Telegram to see the latest on former Reds Josh Hamilton and Eddie Guardado.

When you're done reading that, hit my web site: http://www.kenbroo.com/. On the front page, you can find my latest "Broo View Podcast" for your downloading enjoyment.

For a guy who could use more than a little exercise, check out how Jim Bowden is maneuvering around the Washington Nationals spring training camp. Yikes! The Washington Times gets the award for 'Picture of the Week'.

I think UC can make the Big East Tournament (12 teams make it, everyone makes it next season). But they'll need at least four more wins to qualify for an NIT berth. Here's my question, will the tie breaker in whether or not UC makes the NIT be the poor attendance at Fifth Third Arena games this season?

Xavier continues to win. But on my radio show "Sunday Morning Sports Talk" on 700 WLW, RPI ratings expert, Jerry Palm, says the best seed the Muskies can hope for in the upcoming NCAA Tournament is a third seed. And Palm says Xavier is no better than a '3', even if they run the table.

By the way, you can catch "Sunday Morning Sports Talk" from 9am-Noon EST on both 700 WLW and XM Channel 173. It's also streamed on http://www.700wlw.com/.

See you later tonight and tomorrow on WLWT Channel 5 in Cincinnati

In case you missed it, Bob Knight was Jay Leno's guest on my television station last night WLWT (and every other NBC affiliate, of course). Watch Knight's entrance and listen to Leno's first jab a the way Knight is dressed.

He's 67. But I have the feeling Knight will surface at some other school, perhaps in a more prominent enviornment than Lubbock, Texas.

If you were Bengals owner, Mike Brown, would you make this deal? Look what the Washington Post is reporting today about the Redskins interest in Chad Johnson.

I was thinking about this the other day, reading some of the quotes that Ocho Cinco had about how under appreciated he is here in our town. He’ll talk to anyone about it, stop him at the Kroger, he’ll talk to you, unless you work for the local media. Because apparently to him, we’re just pond scum.

But I was thinking about how all of this could backfire on Chad Johnson. He doesn’t have to go too far back in history to see what happens to a local sports hero who’ve done what he’s doing now. Carl Pickens comes to mind.

That guy was a great, great talent. Big, solidly built, hard to bring down, good speed. Hated playing here. Hated it. But he kept signing contracts.

Corey Dillon was a great, great talent. Big, solidly built, like Pickens, hard to bring down. Long about 1999, hated playing here. Absolutely hated it. The ‘flipping burgers’ thing was priceless. But he kept cashing the checks.

Now comes Johnson. He’s certainly not as bitter as Pickens and Dillon were. But maybe we should give him some time. Or more money.

But here’s the problem. Cincinnati, so far as I can tell, isn’t a super star town. Never has been, probably never will be. Cincinnati is a team town. Love the team, hate the supers star. We’ll take hustle and a dirty uniform over super star who behaves like one. It explains why we become so infatuated by Norris Hopper and Ryan Freel and so infuriated with Ken Griffey Junior. Freel can run into a wall, or the stands or Hopper’s elbow and miss half a season and we call it great hustle. Junior can dislocate a shouldar diving for a fly ball and we’ll get deluged with calls at this radio station about how he’s always hurt.

Super stars seem to have trouble here: Boomer, Eric Davis, Not all. Anthony Munoz and Chris Sabo come to mind. But a lot of them do.

Mostly, it’s about team in Cincinnati. The ’75 Reds had great individual players, hall of famers, but who was better? Rose or Morgan? Bench or Concepcion? We remember the 75 Reds, the 76 Reds, the 90 Reds. Team first, individual player after that. In the bigger towns, New York, Chicago, LA, it tends to be the opposite. It’s Reggie, Sammy, Roger, Pedro. Maybe it’s because bigger towns can afford bigger names and have more media outlets than we do in Cincinnati. But it seems like they love their super stars first, their teams second.

I like it the way it is here. Nothing, no one should be bigger than the team. If you make headlines, you should make them helping the team win.

Chad Johnson has made a lot headlines helping the Bengals win. Great touchdown catches, fun celebrations in the end zone, great quote machine in the locker room.

But it seems as though the minute an athlete in Cincinnati starts making headlines more about himself than about the team he plays for, that’s when the trouble begins. I sense that the trouble has already begun for Ocho Cinco. It’s not too late to fix it. I just wonder if he knows that, or if it matters to him.

It's National Letter Of Intent day all over the country. The University of Cincinnati did just fine, signing 24 recruits, including the running back who broke all of Archie Griffin's rushing records at Columbus Eastmore, Isiah Pead. Kelly is particularly pleased with the speed of this, his second UC recruiting class.

You can find plenty of other information on the best destination for high school sports anywhere, highschoolplaybook.com.

And my man, Frank Solich, had himself a good day of signings at Ohio University. Solich got a terrific option quarterback out of California, as well as some stout linemen. Among his haul this season, Bakari Bussey, the son of former Bengal Barney Bussey. Solich beat out Indiana to get a wide receiver who has solid speed.

Well check this out!


You know what this sounds like to me? Renegotiation. Johnson signed a six year, $35.5 million deal in 2006. 16 million of that has already been paid, meaning Johnson will average just under $4.5 million for the deal that runs through the 2011 season. That's under value for a receiver his his talent in today's market.

Rosenhaus and Johnson can request a trade. But knowing Mike Brown, it won't happen on their terms. Remember, when Corey Dillon began making noise, it took him four years to get out of Cincinnati. I'd be expccting Johnson in a Bengals uniform for the forseeable future.

Wonder what Mike Brown, the Bengals owner, thinks about this. scrum.com is reporting that Bengals linebacker, Dhani Jones is about to become a professional rugby player. In fact, Jones will see some action in a match Saturday night in England. Here's the story.

For the record, I like the Patriots over the Giants. I'm not being seduced by the fact the Giants kept it close in the December 29th game or the fact that the Giants have won ten straight road games. I think New England finishes the season a perfect 19-0.

But I sincerely hope this story in the New York Post isn't true.

The Reds signed catcher Paul Bako and reliever Scott Sauerbeck to minor league contracts today. Both have an excellent chance of making the big club, espeically Bako, a former Reds draft pick, who played for Dusty Baker. If I'm Javier Valentin, I'm not exactly comfortable tonight. Then again, Wayne Krivsky loves having three catchers on his 25 man roster.

Good news about "The Mayor". No not Rudi Guiliani or the pitching-challenged Mayor Mark Mallory. The Boston Globe has the scoop on Sean Casey finding work. $800K may seem like a pittance to a man making $8 million a year ago. But hey, it's work. And Casey has a chance to win a World Series again. He came close in Detroit a couple of years ago.

I'm talking sports again this Sunday on 700 WLW. You can listen on line at www.700wlw.com, in case you're not living in the greater Cincinnati area. Among my guests will be former Bengals coach Sam Wyche, who is writing a book about his life in the NFL, draft expert Jerry Jones, author of The Drugstore List and Damon Durante from www.betusa.com. Sunday Morning Sportstalk is from 9:00am until Noon this Sunday and every Sunday on 700 WLW. You can also catch in on XM Radio channel 173.

And this Sunday night at 11:35, it's our Super Bowl Sports Rock show on Cincinnati's channel 5, WLWT. Our guests will include "Wildman" Walker and the renaissance man, Wayne "Box" Miller. You can also get an internet only version of Sports Rock every Monday on www.wlwt.com.

Have a great weekend!

Didn't see this one coming. UC routs West Virginia and Bob Huggins and IN Morgantown tonight, 62-39. WVU apparently made a grand total of one 3 pt field goal. The Mountaineers were 1-22 outside the arc and made a grand total of 10-shots on the night.

Huggins has to be apoplectic.

On a lighter note, unless you're the affected mascot, this is pretty funny:

The Reds and Goodyear, Arizona, have signed a deal that will give both 75-days to hammer out a deal to move the reds spring training facility from Sarasota, Florida.75-days where both sides can negotiate with no one else.

Here are some of the things you can find in Goodyear, Arizona: Peter Piper Pizza, a shuttered up horse track that went under because it was inaccessible and the Arizona State Pen.

If I’m Sarasota, I’m talking up my very viable dog track today. And the low crime rate.

The Reds have been trying to get the Sarasota county government to pony up about 15 million to help renovated Ed Smith Stadium. The total bill is about 40-million, but the state of Florida and the Reds are willing to toss in some dough.

Last week, the the Sarasota county commission essentially voted the tax deal down. Not surprising. I lived in Florida for seven years. If the second coming was a tax issue down there, trust me, it would be voted down.

Ed Smith Stadium isn’t delapitated. It’s certainly not new. But as spring training venues go, it’s not bad. It’s not handicap access friendly. But it won’t take 40-million to fix that. Some of the baseball field flood when it rains. Just about every field in Florida floods when it rains.

Bob Castellini doesn’t really want to go to Goodyear Arizona. And really, has anyone ever said to you they want to go to Goodyear, Arizona? He’s willing to pitch in $9 million to the 40-million dollar project to make it work in Sarasota. In Goodyear, all Castellini would have to do is show up. Maybe bring a nice bottle of Merlot as a calling card. But that’s about it. He could, presumably, take that $9 million he was going to give Sarasota and go out and buy a decent pitcher.

But if Castellini takes his team to Goodyear, Arizona, here’s what he won’t get. Fans from Cincinnati to spend a spring vacation watching his team. How many of your friends are gonna hop in a car and drive three days to watch spring training games? You can make Sarasota in about 13 hours.

You’ll hear some boasting on message boards from people who’ll say they’ll have no problem making the trip to Goodyear, Arizona, to watch Reds baseball. But mostly, those people live in their parents’ basement.

If Castellini takes his team west, here’s what he won’t get. Complete coverage on TV and in the Enquirer and Dayton Daily News. Afternoon games won’t be over in time for the 6p news. Night games won’t be over in time to get in the morning editions of the paper. Maybe he doesn’t care about that. But he should.

If Castellini takes his team west, here’s what Sarasota loses: a newspaper by line everyday, nationwide. Proof that there’s life beyond early bird specials at the local cafeterias. Admit it, when someone mentioned the city of Sarasota to you before the Reds landed there in the late 90’s, what did you think of? Right, grandma. Sarasota was then, and is now, a pretty neat place. Art, dining, the beach. But the thing that city has fought, forever, is the image of retirement haven, a slow moving burb with every bad driver from the north.

Is he worth it? Is Brian Kelly really worth the money that UC will pay him in his new contract, just signed today? Take a look at the annual, guarenteed money Kelly will get:

Base Salary: $300,00 annually
Radio-TV: $400,00 annually
Speaking Fees: $300,00 annually
Coach's Camp: $100,00 annually
Shoe's & Apparel: $100,00 annually
--------------------$1.2 Million annually

And this is just guaranteed dough. There is a lot of incentive money along with this, including $100K for qualifying for a BCS bowl game, 50K for being named the national coach of the year and $50,000 for UC football finishing in the final Top 25. Kelly also gets a car, expense accounts and membership to a country club.

Football coaches are the faces of major universities. Faculty members, whose roles in the collegiate experience are far more important than a football coach, have a tough time making sense of all this. But the fact remains, a school gets infinitely more exposure from a football game on television than any study, research or publication done by a professor.

It is, the way it is.

Bob Huggins says he only feel a little more emotion than usual Wednesday night when he coaches against UC for the first time since getting run out of Clifton (which may be a reason why he stiffed me on a radio appearance Sunday.) But it's hard to believe he doesn't want to win this game against UC badly.


It's been three years and two jobs since Huggins was effectively run out of UC by school president Dr. Nancy Zimpher. Their pubic feud deeply damaged the school's basketball program, only recovering from the fallout. Huggins bigger moment will come next season, when West Virginia must come to Cincinnati. That will be an event. But Wednesday night's game in the hills of West Virginia will be 'must see TV' for any basketball fan in Southwest Ohio.

And it's not like Mick Cronin isn't getting his 'love' in the hills. Check out this story in the Charleston Gazette.

Countdown to Opening Day continues. Check out the clock! Nice piece on the outlook for the 2008 Cincinnati Reds on mlb.com.

More cool stuff on my web site: www.kenbroo.com

UC and Xavier both play pivotal games Sunday. In UC's case, it's whether or not it can win on the road in the Big East. UC has proven it can win conference games at home. It should've won the other night, but blew a 15 point second half lead to UConn. Now, the Bearcats have to take the next step and prove they can win away from home. Seton Hall is not a great team by any stretch of the basketball imagination. But a win there would do wonders for UC credability.


Xavier plays Sunday at UMass, another winnable road game for the Muskies. Here's their problem: the Muskies have to prove they can win AFTER playing and winning an emotion filled game. In December, Xavier beat UC, then went on the road and got waxxed by Arizona State. Thursday night, Xavier demolished number 16 Dayton. Now, can the Muskies parlay that win, with another at UMass. If they do, it will be a major step for Xavier, a team that seems to have the components to play deep into March.


I don't know what I'm more impressed with, Ohio beating Ball State at the horn Saturday OR over 10,000 fans watching it go down at the Convocation Center in Athens. That attendance figure is very impressive. This current Ohio team has shown a propensity to fall behind in games it should win and then rally late to do so. It can't become habit for the Bobcats, as the season gets more difficult as it gets later. But with Jerome Tillman and Leon Williams, these Bobcats have an excellent chance to win the MAC and get the automatic bid to the NCAA. But 10,000 plus for a MAC game in rural Ohio is pretty impressive.


I'm talking sports, as always, Sunday morning on 700 WLW in Cincinnati. You can listen on line, if you're outside the greater Cincinnati area on http://www.700wlw.com/ And if you have an XM Radio, WLW is on channel 173. Among my guests will be former Cincinnati Bengals lineman Max Montoya and former UC basketball coach, Bob Huggins. His West Virginia Mountaineers play UC this coming week in Morgantown (after WVU plays a tough Georgetown team at home tonight).



Sunday night at 11:35, it's another round of Sports Rock! on Cincinnati's WLWT channel 5. Our guests include former Bengals Eric Thomas and Dave Lapham.

Did you see where Odell Thurman was given the OK to begin practicing with the Bengals again?
Here's the foxsports.com article. Sounds to me like Thurman's complete reinstatement is going to happen. Marvin Lewis issued a statement that Thurman will have to earn his way back on to the team. Lewis had to say that at this point. But the Bengals will take him back. They've got bonus money they're obligated to pay Thurman and Thurman has litigation pending against the NFL that says, in essence, he has a disease and can not be denied a chance to make a living at his chosen profession. The bigger issue is, when he comes back, can the team count on him? Years ago, players like Thurman were deemed 'coach killers', in the sense that you game planned for an opponent fully believing you'd have the services of a player. When that player couldn't (or wouldn't in some cases) play, a coach had to substitute other players and take plays out of his playbook. Ultimately, it caught up with the coach, who usually lost his job.

Thurman is a terrific talent, when sober. Unfortunately, there are a lot of stories like his in professional sport. I'm hoping he's got his act together now, for his sake, and the Bengals.

For what it's worth, yardbarkers.com has its latest NFL mock draft up. If you believe what you read, looks like the Bengals are zeroing in on Ohio State defensive lineman, Vernon Gholston. Hmmmm. Can't James Laurinaitis reconsider leaving early? Guess not.


The Reds made it official with Jeremy Affeldt today. He says he chose the Reds because they're giving him a chance to start, which a lot of other teams apparently weren't prepared to do. More on the signing from our good friend, Mark Sheldon at reds.com.

I'm not completely sold on Affeldt as a starter. I know he couldn't crack the Rockies rotation last season, but no shame in that, as the Rocks had a young and talented staff. Is he better than Matt Belisle? I hope so. But if Johnny Cueto is major league ready coming out of the spring, I don't see Affeldt as any more than a number 4. And that's assuming Homer Bailey is better than what he was, for the most part, here in Cincinnati last summer.

See you tonight at 11p on News 5 Tonight on Cincinnati's channel 5. I'll have coverage from the UC vs Uconn game and from the La Salle stag, the kickoff to the Reds season.

There are a couple of old adages in the business I work in, the swinging, swirling world of television and radio. Adage number one: never take a vacation. Because good old Bob who’ll be filling in for you will use every opportunity to try and take your job away from you when you’re gone.

Think I’m a bit paranoid? No, I just think everyone is out to get me. But I’ve also seen some co workers at various places I’ve worked leave on a trip with one job and come back to work with a job that’s not quite so good. That’s adage number one in broadcasting: never take a vacation.

Adage number two, buy if you must, but it’s better to rent. People come and go in my business. Here today, gone tomorrow. What happened to good old Joe who used to do the weather? Or Frank the affabled sports guy. He hasn’t been on the air for a couple of weeks? What happened? Probably, as they like to say in broadcasting…he caught the blade, or he got ‘launched’. Adage number two in broadcasting: rent.

I’m not saying all this today because I’m paranoid. I’m not. You’re not paranoid if you think everyone is out to get you, right?

I’m saying this because I watched our beloved Bengals hire yet another defensive coordinator this week. If you’re scoring at home this morning, that’s three defensive coordinators in the Marvin Lewis era.

The Bengals defense, collectively under Marvin’s watch, has been bad. Not horribly bad, just bad enough to submarine any chance the Bengals have had to accomplish much. It’s been Kendrick Allen bad, Tory James bad, Rogers Beckett bad.

Not Reinard Wilson horribly bad, or George Hinkle horribly bad. But it’s been bad enough to ruin just about every one of the five seasons Lewis has been here, save one.

I don’t think it was Leslie Frazier’s fault, to any great degree. And if it was, how come Frazier is running around the country now interviewing for head coach’s jobs?

I don’t think it was Chuck Bresnahan’s fault. If it was, how did he get stupid on the drive from Oakland to Cincinnati?

Now comes Mike Zimmer, a self proclaimed yeller and screamer, the big noise out of Atlanta. He runs a 4-3, wants a defense that has an identity and will preach accountability in between tirades. He might be the second coming of Buddy Ryan, but excuse me, we’ve heard this before.

Zimmer’s resume is impressive. He not only was the defensive coordinator in Dallas for seven years, he also kept that job when Bill Parcells arrived in the Big D to run that team. If there’s one thing The Tuna loves more than prime rib dinners and sparring with the media, it’s cleaning house on arrival. Zimmer had some of his play calling taken away by Parcells, but he survived. No small trick.

Zimmer may or may not be the difference maker we all want for our Bengals. Benefit of the doubt, at the very least for now. But here’s something that will help him succeed immensely. And a lot of it will be out of his control.

First thing: sign some big name playmakers. I mean some real playmakers, not some stiffs that can’t make it out of training camp. Instead of signing this year’s version of Ed Hartwell, sign this year’s version of Adalius Thomas. Today, Thomas will try to help his team get to the Super Bowl. Hartwell will presumably help himself to some chips and dip watching Thomas.

Bottom feeding in the winter and spring delivers the same meal in the fall. With the salary cap heading toward $116-million this year, you either play with the big boys or watch them play. In this free agency arena, the Bengals have been spectators far too long.

Second thing that’ll help our new Mister Zimmer: draft players who can not only make plays, but stay out of the NFL’s version of jail. We’ve been over the Odell Thurman pick ad nauseum. But Thurman has now missed two full seasons because he couldn’t stay out of trouble. Do you know what players the Bengals could’ve selected, instead of Thurman in that 2005 draft?

How about Kalif Barnes, who now starts at left tackle with the Jaguars…he went four picks after Thurman. How about the player that went three picks after Thurman? Nick Collins, who’ll start tonight at free safety for the Packers? Or Justin Tuck, whom the Giants took in round three? What do you think he’s doing tonight?

Sometimes, it’s not the player you take, it’s the player you pass up. And when the player you take doesn’t pan out, it makes your ‘whiff’ even more devastating.

Matthias Askiew of roud four of ’04, Kewan Ratliff of round two of ’04, AJ Nicholson of round three of ’06…and on and on.

The Bengals aren’t alone in this. Plenty of other teams have had busted picks. That’s why there are plenty of other teams who’ve been watching the playoffs this month along with our Bengals.
But if you want your new guy Zimmer to succeed, Bengals, draft better. You don’t want to add more scouts, make the ones you have work harder. Not their fault, but because of the fewer numbers of scouts, they’ll always be held to a tougher standard.

Changing position coaches after seasons is as way of life in the NFL. But the Bengals have changed their defensive coordinators-out far too often in the last five years.

You want this third time to be the charm? Give Zimmer what he two predecessors never got. Maybe then, you’ll give us what we haven’t had but once in 18-years.

Interesting pick up for the Reds today. Though they haven't confirmed it yet, foxsports.com's Ken Rosenthal (a terrific baseball writer) says the Reds have signed left handed starting pitcher Jeremy Affeldt.

I like this on a number of levels. It's a relatively cheap signing (1yr/$3mil) and it gives the Reds a left handed arm in the starting rotation..

Here's what Affeldt's career has looked like.

Even more of an insight into what's going on inside the Reds organization is in this recent article in Baseball Prospectus.

Maybe things are looking up. Opening Day? The countdown clock is just to your right.

Check out my web site: http://www.kenbroo.com/.

I'm talking sports Sunday morning on 700 WLW in Cincinnati. I'm on from 9am-Noon EST. Among my guests will be former Bengals David Fulcher and Jim Breech. Mark Sheldon from mlb.com will stop by and we'll have a report from Green Bay on the Packers vs Giants NFC Championship game. You can listen on line at www.700wlw.com or on XM channel 173. Or just dial in 700 on your AM dial.

Interesting reading on mlbtraderumors.com about what the Reds may or may not do with minor league phenom, Jay Bruce.

I think even thinking about trading Bruce is cause for dismissal from the Reds front office. He's literally the best prospect this franchise has produced since the Adam Dunn-Austin Kearns class.

One of my favorite guests on my Sunday Morning Sports Talk show on 700 WLW is profootballtalk.com editor Mike Florio. Here's his latest take on the Giants upset win over the Cowboys this past Sunday.

I think the Giants have a puncher's chance against the Packers. But you'd have to be nuts to pick against the karma Green Bay has going for it now.

Same deal in New England. The Chargers are a nice story. But they won't beat the Patriots on the Pats' home turf.

The Bengals may have gotten themselves a 'steal' when they hired Mike Zimmer today to be their defensive coordinator. Zimmer spent 13 years in Dallas, the last seven as defensive coordinator. Part of those seven years as a 'DC' included time under Bill Parcells. Parcells inherited Zimmer from the outgoing staff and kept him. That's no small feat, as "The Tuna" is reknown for cleaning house when he arrives at a team.

Zimmer spent this past season at the coordinator in Atlanta. But when Bobby Petrino took a hike on the Falcons, his entire coaching staff was free to look elsewhere.

Zimmer's biggest challeng will be the same as his predecessor's: whether or not the Bengals front office can get him enough good players. To be sure, Chuck Breshnahan got some players to work with. But the Bengals made a habit of 'bottom feeding' on defensive free agents. How else do you explain Kendrick Allen and Ed Hartwell never making it out of training camp last summer?

I think the Bengals defense will be better in '08 than '07, simply because it can't be much worse. But unless Zimmer is given better talent to work with, that upgrade may not be so great.

Check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com.

So the Reds now have two things the Bengals don’t have: general managers. Maybe they could loan one to the Bengals.

When the word came down Friday that the Reds had lured Walt Jocketty out of his short-lived retirement, my first reaction was…whoa, wouldn’t want to be Wayne Krivsky. Look at what Jocketty did in St. Louis. He only built the team that has more regular season wins than any other team on that half of the baseball equation. And there was that little piece of hardware the Cardinals won a couple of falls ago.

Jocketty was nothing in St. Louis if not the ultimate trade merchant. And he seemed to have an uncanny ability to trade nothing to get something. Sure the Mark Mulder deal stunk. Danny Haren will be a star for a long time in baseball and Mulder seems at the edge of washed up.

But how about these names that found their way to St. Louis on Jocketty’s watch: Mark McGwire, Scott Rolen, Larry Walker and Edgar Renteria.

His critics will argue that Jocketty built those Cardinals teams and worked those trades at the expense of his minor league system. The Cardinals had to trade for Mulder because their minor league pitching was awful.

But he also had the brains…and the scouts, to draft baseball’s best player at the moment: Albert Puljos.

With Walt Jocketty, there’s good with the bad. But there appears to be much more good.

But you wonder about Krivsky. He’s been on the job only a couple of years. So his drafts, unlike Jocketty’s, are tough to score right now. But they both seem to be cut from the same cloth. Jocketty was aggressive pursuing big name players. Krivsky has been aggressive trying to rebuild his bullpen.

My guess is Wayne Krivsky isn’t comfortable about all this. Even though he’s Bob Castellini’s hand picked general manager, Krivsky can’t be happy with Castellini bringing in the former GM of the National League team of the last decade and the former GM of the team Castellini once had a piece of. Jocketty will report directly to Castellini. Not good for Wayne-O.

But if Castellini can keep everybody in the sandbox happy, this has a chance of working out. Think about it: Jocketty’s experience and aggressive nature helping Krivsky with trade evaluations and draft pick assessments. Both have keen eyes, both have excellent contacts. It could be magic.

But it could also be a disaster. Invariably, when any company hires someone to over see the work of another with equal status, the atmosphere is tense. Distrust is the immediate by-product and camps can form. Jocketty apparently was in the middle of that scenario, when Cardinals owner, Bill DeWitt brought in a vice president for player development last season. Reportedly, that’s what led to Jocketty’s resignation in October.

If this is Castelllini’s way of lighting a fire under Krivsky, he’s done it. Never comfortable in front of the media, the current Reds GM appeared more uneasy than ever Friday. But Bob Castellini didn’t build a produce empire by fostering office politics. He knows, I’m sure, that if his front office gets bogged down in ‘camps’, he hurts his product. And remember, just about everyone in that baseball operations office is a Krivsky hire.

I would bet, that Castellini has told both Jocketty and Krivsky to play nice.
If they do, this will be a great ‘play’ for our ‘local nine’. If they don’t, it’ll be a great ‘play’ for the controversy loving media.

I'd like to tell you I was shocked that the Chargers and Giants won this past weekend. But in the NFL playoffs, there should be no shockers. That's the beauty of the playoffs: if you get in, you always have a chance to win. And that's the problem with football fans in the Tri-State: the Bengals never (except for 2005) get in. So they never let us see that logic in action.

All you have to do is qualify. Look at the Steelers, the sixth and final seed in the AFC after the 2005 season. They caught a major break when Carson Palmer went down in their game against the Bengals. The Steelers went all the way to a Super Bowl win that year, even being that final team that qualified.

Now, I see the Patriots and Packers playing in the Super Bowl next month. With LT and Phillips Rivers recentaly injured, I don't believe either will be at full strength this Sunday. And while the run the Giants have pieced together has been impressive (and the fact that they're a much better road team than home team lately) I can't see the Packer getting caught now. Brett Favre is hot and the Pack's running back is a Giants cast off. With the home field advantage, Green Bay will have plenty of motivation.

A good high school football coach is out of work tonight. Reading has fired Ken Minor. This is not only a good coach, this is a good man. Minor told us today that he was given no reason why he was dismissed. But he is gone. Now, I imagine, the Elder football faithful will hold their collective breath. The athletic director at Reading is the brother of Elder coach, Doug Ramsey. Ramsey has done a terrific job under sometimes stressful circumstances in front of one of the Tri-State's most demanding fans. He might be ready to move on. We'll see.

This week, on Sports Rock, we'll welcome back the gifted singer-songwriter Ryan Parker. You can view some of his work at http://www.ryanparkersongs.com/. But here's his latest.


Sports Rock! airs every Sunday night at 11:35pm and only on Cincinnati's Channel 5. It's the last, best word in sports!

My buddy Ryan Parker will be joining us on Sports Rock on Sunday night, January 20th. If you live in the greater Cincinnati area, you can watch the show on WLWT Channel 5. Parker is the singer-songwriter from eastern Kentucky who always comes up with novel sports songs. Here's the video from his latest!

It sounds so bizzarre, it could have some truth to it. A columnist for the Baltimore Sun today suggests that the Ravens try to pry Marvin Lewis away from the Cincinnati Bengals. In his story, columnist Mike Preston says bringing Lewis back to the team he helped to a Super Bowl win in 2000, this time as head coach, is a no brainer. Of course to accomplish that, the Bengals would have to a: be willing to lose their coach b: trade him within their own division and c: require draft picks in return.

The Bucs and Raiders did this six years ago, when the Bucs sent four picks (two #1's and two #2's) to the Raiders in exchange for head coach Jon Gruden moving to Tampa. Sounds to me like that'd be too steep of a price for the Ravens, needing to rebuild their offense. And remember, the Bengals owner, Mike Brown, once turned down an offer from the New Orleans Saints that would've netted the Bengals every one of the Saints' picks in the 1999 draft in exchange for only the Bengals first rounder.

Today, the Bengals said this is "simply the musings of a reporter" and that the team would have no further comment. I don't see it happening. But it sure made for interesting reading on what otherwises was a boring Wednesday.

Nice way for the University of Cincinnati football team to end the season. The final Associated Press rankings are out tonight and UC finishes 17th. Brian Kelly is off to a roaring start. And though he just signed a contract extention, now the trick is for the university to keep pace with the growth Kelly has delivered. Nothing will drive a coach away from a school quicker than a perceived lack of committment. UC, the ball is yours.

One of my favorites guest on 700 WLW's Sunday Morning Sports Talk is Mike Florio, the power behind profootballtalk.com. Mike has his latest TV segments posted. Here's one about Cleveland Browns coach, Romeo Crennel, and his request for a new, three year contract.







If I'm the Browns, I'm waiting to see if 2007 was the fluke, or the norm. If Romeo wins ten in 2008, he'll have a huge payday. And, he's still under contract now through 2009.


Uh Oh, trouble in Buckeye paradise in the middle of last night's BCS championship loss to LSU. Great read in the Tuesday's Dayton Daily News.


This can't play well around here. Bronson Arroyo loves to sing. And he was warbling well in Boston the other night, when he changed the lyrics to a song that makes you wonder just about committed he is to the Cincinnati Reds.

I'm off to anchor the 11p sports. Check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com, when you get a chance.

Sorry I've been away....lot on my plate these days. But I have some thoughts that've been rumbling around in my cranium....

Dumping the defensive coordinator and a position coach should've been a start for the Bengals. They've grown stale on both sides of the football. Marvin Lewis needs fresh ideas on offense and needs to take a more active role coaching his defense....

I was shocked the Giants beat the Buccaneers this weekend, mildly surprised that the Steelers defense couldn't do a better job against the Jags offense. The other two games were no surprise. If TO isn't healthy enough to play this Sunday, the Cowboys are vulnerable. The Giants are a completely different team on the road than at home...

I want to believe Roger Clemens. But he looked very uncomfortable in his 60 Minutes interview and playing that phone conversation he had with his accuser at a news conference Monday actually hurt Clemens, I think. Let the lawsuits begin....

UC basketball fans should see light at the end of the tunnel. Monday's news that Nick Aldridge has finally enrolled in school (Bob Huggins recruited him before leaving and Aldridge wound up at Western Carolina until this transfer) along with a nice recruiting class coming in next fall could finally make the Bearcats competitive in the Big East.

There are a lot of reasons to believe Xavier will be playing deep into March this year. But here's the biggest reason: the Muskies have balanced scoring and an unselfish attitude. Whenever you get five players averaging double figures this late in the season, it means the head coach is doing a terrific job. Sean Miller is.

Think it gets easier for the Bengals in 2008. My friend Chick Ludwig in the Dayton Daily News has this to report today: the combined 2007 record of all the Bengals opponents next season is 115-93. The only teams the Bengals play next season that had losing records this year: Baltimore, Kansas City and the Jets.

Pete Mackanin, the Reds interim manager for the last half of the 2007 season, found work today. Mackanin has signed on to scout for the Yankees. Apparently the Reds offered him a similar deal, but Mackanin felt returing to the team he still wanted to manage would be a little too awkward.

If you're looking for him in his post Cincinnati Post life, you can find the blog-crazed C. Trent Rosecrans at this address: ctrentrosecrans.com. Yes, he's blogging on his own now and I'm told is 'this close' to finding a soft landing spot here in the greater Cincinnati area.

Check out my web site when you have a moment: www.kenbroo.com.

First, let me wish you and yours nothing but the best in 2008. Happy New Year! Whatever it is that you want in this new year, I hope you find it.

I apologize for being a little laxed in postings. I was off last week, and tending to a variety of things. But I'm back now. And what a story I walked into today. I was in the Bengals locker room at Paul Brown Stadium this morning, watching the players pack up after another disappointing season. Not many of the star players were there. But Carson Palmer was and he agreed to an impromptu give and take session with several members of the Cincinnati media. I was the only television reporter present, but helping out our 'brothers in arms' at the other stations in town by holding their microphones.

The conversation with Palmer turned to 2008, and what needs to happen to make the Bengals better, realize their true level of talent. After what appeared to be a standard answer of getting more serious, playing harder and focusing, the follow up question went something like this: "Marvin has said he's looking for a new start, fresh beginning in 2008. Do you (Palmer) think this coaching staff is capable of that? Palmers answer: I don't think so. The follow up question: so do you see changes in the coaching staff coming. Palmer's answer: Yes, I do.

Whoa! In the 'put on a happy face and I'll let you know what I'm going to do when I do it" world of Marvin Lewis, this was a major tremor. Here you had the franchise player, the focal point of your team telling the media he doesn't think the current coaching staff has what it takes to get done what the head coach says must get done before next season.

Lewis raised the whole mission for 2008 in a question and answer session with the Columbus Dispatch. The headline in the article was "It's Time To Blow The Whole Thing Up", which was a direct quote taken from Lewis interview with the Dispatch. Lewis tried to spin that as changing the atmosphere at PBS, invigorating the staff and changing the playbook. Sorry Marvin. When somebody talks about blowing things up, it's not cosmetic changes.

Be that as it may, it's very clear from what I witnessed today that there is a rift inside the merry land of Bengal-dom. The star player, one of the top five quarterbacks in the game, isn't happy. Palmer says 2007 was the worst season in any sport in any time of his life. Losing is one thing. But the way the Bengals lost, with their internal bickering and in game meltdowns is another.

I agree with Lewis, it's time to blow the whole thing up. Some players need to go (and how about some 'name' players to get everyone's attention) and the coaching staff needs to be gutted.

I don't know if his boss will let him do it, but for his own career Lewis should push for it. The Bengals don't need a fresh coat of paint. They need serious work on the structure of their organization. Don't take my word for it. Ask the quarterback.

First, a confession: I haven't watched any college bowl games so far this week. Just a bit of the Motor City bowl, but that's it. I may get interested a bit tonight. Two intriguing teams are playing in separate games: Boston College plays Michigan State and Maryland, a team I once did radio 'color' for, plays Oregon State. Obviously, the bigger games begin next Tuesday.

It's looking more and more like the Reds will go into spring training next March with their current pitching staff and maybe...maybe one more low level free agent starting pitcher. The only name that's out there that even remotely interests me is Livan Hernandez. The others seem to be a collection of bad rotator cuffs and sore elbows. So if the season were to start today (bad day to start in Cincinnati 44* and light rain) the rotation would be Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo, Homer Bailey, then probably Matt Belisle and ???? Don't count out Johnny Cueto, who was on the fast track to the majors until, for whatever reason, was sent down to "AA" from "AAA" Louisville last August. And that was despite pitching pretty well in "AAA" ball. Cueto's demotion didn't go so good. He was rocked on his return to the Reds farm club in Chattanooga. But just about every scout who's seen Cueto says he trumps Bailey as the best pitching prospect the Reds have developed in generations. Edinson Volquaz, just picked up in the Josh Hamilton deal has a shot to make the rotation too. Let's put it this way, Volquaz will get 'favored nation' status, since current GM Wayne Krivsky made the deal.

Disturbing news out of Florida today. Jim Leyritz grew up on the east side of Cincinnati and played his high school ball at Turpin before becoming a decent back up catcher for the Yankees and Padres.

The Bengals are off to Miami tomorrow for their game Sunday against the Dolphins. The Bengals are banged up, Rudi Johnson and Madieu Williams are among the starters who won't play. But they should win this game. Waiting on them is a Dolphins franchise that is now in the hands of Bill Parcells. Warning to the denizens of Dolphin-ville: get ready to get rocked. Parcell pulls few punches.

This is one of the funnier moments from Parcells' stint as the Cowboys head coach.


Imagine that kind of 'quote machine' around here! You know, back in the late 80's and early 90's we had some of the best 'sports quotes' in America zooming out of Cincinnati. Pete Rose and Sam Wyche were contemporaries, each managing and coaching the two major sports franchises in Cincinnati. At the University of Cincinnati, Bob Huggins didn't pull any punches with the local media. And at Xavier, Pete Gillen was often times a stand up comedy act with some of his one-liners. Now, everybody is wrapped up in trying to say the right thing.

Also waiting on the Bengals, and left tackle Levi Jones, is Dolphins linebacker, Joey Porter. Joey didn't have to be reminded, as we read in the Sun Sentinel, the fine Florida daily.

In case you missed it, Fox Sports had the security came video of the incident:


I don't know about you, but when I'm in Vegas, I try to stay by the pool, in the shade with a frozen drink. I guess it's all about what you want to do with your free time, right?

I'm talking sports again this weekend on 700 WLW and 1530 WCKY. Both of those stations are streamed on the internet and WLW is available on XM channel 173. Sunday morning, I'll be in my regular seat as host of "Bengals-Sunday Morning Sports Talk". Among my guests, the outstanding columnist from the Cincinnati Post, Lonnie Wheeler. For those of you outside of the greater Cincinnati area, the Post and afternoon tradition for nearly a century, will cease publishing with its Monday edition. Marc Hardin, the executive editor of Bengals Report, will be in for a chat as will "The Governor", former Bengals kicker Doug Pelfrey.

Then, at 5:30pm EST, I'll be back on both signals with "Bengals Feedback", fielding your phone calls with reaction to the game. Sunday night, after the Titans vs the Colts, I'll be serving up another helping of Sports Rock! on Cincinnati's NBC affiliate, WLWT. George Vogel and I welcome Eric Thomas and "Wildman Walker" to the studio. We'll also have another visit from the all seeing, all knowing "Wizard Of Kenwood". It's going to be another full Sunday.

As for you....have a great weekend and I'll see you back on the air Monday at 6pm and 11pm on News Five!

Merry Christmas. I hope the peace and joy of the season finds you on this day. It's always a great day around my home and I hope it is for you as well.

I'm taking some time off from WLWT Channel 5 this week, but enjoying the different things that make Christmas so special in Cincinnati. And it doesn't matter where you're from, or how young or old you may be, there is nothing more classic Christmas, than this.

OK, if you're just logging on this Christmas Day, here's a treat. Somebody in Japan has a lot of time on their hands.

For the 12 days of Christmas, my true love gave to me....

12: more Reds wins than last year. That may win the NL Central this season
11: decent and committed players on the Bengals defense, up from about 4 this season
10: more wins for the UC football team in 2008, and a BCS bowl game.
9: innings for a Reds starting pitcher 10 times in 2008. I love complete games.
8: wins in 2008 for the Elder HS football team. I totally respect coach Doug Ramsey
7: HR's per game for the Reds in 2008. OK, OK that's a lot. But it's Christmas, right?
6: NCAA Tournament wins for Xavier. That'd make "X" NCAA champions, right?
5: better pitchers in the Reds bullpen in 2008. Keep only Weathers, Cordero, Bray & Burton
4: more years, at least, at UC for head football coach Brian Kelly'
3: more seasons for Bengals right tackle, Willie Anderson
2: recruits who can actually score for UC basketball coach Mick Cronin
and: a championship in any sport for any Cincinnati area team. I'm not greedy. Just one.

Sometimes you see things and you know what you see is just wrong. Check out this play, obviously from a pee wee football team. And listen to the sound. It's a designed play. Not sure this is a good example of 'good sportsmanship'. But it's worth a look.

Good Morning! And if you choose to celebrate Christmas, let me join in the choir of wishing your a very Merry Christmas.

It won't be for the Cleveland Browns. Talk about 'spitting the bit'. Cleveland is now on the ropes, no longer a sure lock to make the NFL playoffs, thanks largely to some stupid play calling and execution in the final two minutes of the first half of the Browns vs Bengals game in Cincinnati Sunday. Twice inside the final two minutes, quarterback Derek Anderson tossed interceptions that led directly to Bengals touchdowns. In all, Anderson tossed four interceptions and single handidly delivered a win to the Bengals. Needing only to 'win to get in', the Browns are now in hot soup.

Check out what they're saying about this game in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Here's the bottom line for that final Wild Card in the AFC. If Cleveland and Tennessee both win next win, Tennessee is in. If they both lose, Cleveland is in. If Cleveland wins and Tennessee loses, Cleveland is in. If Cleveland loses and Tennessee wins, Tennessee is in.

The Browns get the easier draw: at home against the 49ers. The Titans have to play at Indianapolis, Sunday night.

The Bengals? Don't get caught up in the hoopla of beating Cleveland. Any win is a good win. But this team has major, major decisions to make on coaches and players after this season is over. I look for some major changes. After Marvin Lewis, no assistant coach is safe, including both coordinators. I'll have more on this as the week progresses, but the Bengals need to make a statement in free agency this winter. No more bottom feeding, the Bengals must bring in impact players. They passed last winter on Adalius Thomas and instead signed three marginal players (Ed Hartwell, Kendrick Allen and Michael Myers). Only Myers remains and is, at best, a role player.

Roger Clemens is trying to repair his image, speaking out on youtube.com and denying any use of HGH or steroids. You can watch it, here.
I suppose I'd deny it too. And that's the trouble with all of this fall out from the Mitchell Report: nobody will ever really know who's telling the truth. Major League Baseball's reluctance to embrace any kind of drug testing until three years ago lends itselfs to skepticism.

Breaking News on the Reds front. Josh Hamilton is heading to the Rangers. In a deal announced late today, the Reds send Hamilton to Texas for a couple of pitchers, including Edinson Volquez, who was one of their prized pieces in their minor system.


Volquez is a strike out artist, 166 in 144 minor league innings last season. But, like Hamilton, Volquez has had to reconstruct his career. He started last year in "A" ball, after getting a taste of the majors each of the last three seasons. The Rangers are loaded with young pitching and can afford to deal Volquez (and "AA" pitcher, Danny Herrera, also part of this deal) for some much needed outfield help.


The more interesting thing about this deal is that it opens up an outfield spot, centerfield, for the best prospect the Reds have had in years: Jay Bruce. The Reds had been looking for a way to get Bruce into the everyday line-up. This does it. Junior isn't moving back from right field. Dunn can't play center and even if they hang onto Joey Votto, he's at best a converted left-fielder.


As for Hamilton, he was a great story last season. I hope he hangs on and completes his comeback from drugs and alcohol. But the minute the Reds fired manager Jerry Narron (and didn't retain Johnny Narron, video coach and Hamilton 'guardian') you knew this day was coming.


Interesting background here, on the Dallas Morning News website.

The Big Blue Faithful are getting restless. They should be. This isn't shaping up to be a great basketball season in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Tubby split for Minnesota (how could he NOT leave) where his new team is 8-1. Billy Gillespie not only has Kentucky off to its worst start in generations, he lost one of his few recruits, when Alex Legion took a hike.

At 4-5, a legitimate question today is: can UK be at least a 'bubble team' come tournament time? With another 16 team post season tournament debuting next spring, even a sub-500 record could get UK into that. But it's a far cry from the championship runs of the mid-90's.

Mike DeCourcy, the excellent basketball writer for The Sporting News has this story today on UK's struggles. If you're a UK fan, are you buying any of this? Let me know.

Trying to get into the Christmas mood, I came upon this video on youtube.com. It's a song done by Vince Vance and the Valiants (a great 'live' group. If they ever play your area, go see them and thank me later). It's called "All I Want For Christmas Is You". Don't confuse it with the Mariah Carey song. Tell me this one isn't better.

Forget Silent Night, Hark The Herald Angels Sing and all that jazz, by far, my favorite Christmas song is this one. Dean Martin's TV show back in the 60's what a blast to watch. And when his "running buddy" Frank Sinatra showed up for a Christmas special, they took my favorite Christmas song to a new level. Enjoy.

Dean Martin - Marshmallow World

Going numb from the holiday season already, some things that've been bouncing around in my cranium....

Amazing how one game can determine how one season can play out. Go back to September 16th when the Bengals played the Browns in Cleveland. Sure, it was a shootout. But in the middle of that game, the Bengals had a chance to ice it, if only Caleb Miller had held on to what looked like a sure interception. He didn't, Derek Anderson remained at quarterback and the rest has been a great story written by the Browns and a nightmare conjured up by the Bengals. If that pass, that became only an incompletion, had been an interception, almost certainly Brady Quinn would have made his NFL debut against the Bengals in that game. He's still waiting for that, as Anderson has become one of the great stories in the NFL this season.

The Bengals and Browns meet again Sunday. If Cleveland wins, it's in the NFL playoffs. Doesn't matter if the Bengals win or lose. They're going home after their December 30th finale in Miami.

Coaches could be on the move after this season. Check out the latest videocast from one of my favorite web sites: www.profootballtalk.com.

PFTV Coaches most likely to get canned

Sigh.....if you scroll down to number 7 on this list from espn.com, it will bring back some memories. I know it did for me. I called this game......

3 Amigos

Which reminds me, my good friend Ryan Parker is a master at songwriting and sports. He's been our gues several times on Sports Rock on WLWT. This conjures up some cool memories.

You can hate the season the Bengals are having. But you have to love TJ Houshmandzadeh. He's been the best wide receiver on the Bengals roster this season. Today, he was voted to the first team of the AFC Pro Bowl roster. TJ's reaction was dead on: I'd trade my trip to the Pro Bowl if I could get my team into the playoffs.


Wide receivers, by nature, are a selfish bunch. They all want the ball, and there's only one ball on the field at any time. But Houshmandzadeh controls the 'me' game better than anyone. I'm happy for the guy.

Just back from a big rally for the UC football team, which leaves tomorrow for the papajohns.com bowl.

Big news, head coach Brian Kelly signs a new deal that takes him through 2012. Of course, in the world of college football, he could leave at the end of this upcoming season. There is a buyout clause that begins with $2 million after the first season. But for any big, big-time college team looking for a coach, that's chump change.

The other 'devil in the details' of this deal is that UC get a new indoor practice facility that all of its intercollegiate sports can use. And, Kelly's assistant coaches get pay raises.

Private funds will pay for the new indoor facility. Kelly will make a donation of $50,000. He can afford that, now that he'll make $1.2 million in the first year of his deal. The rest of the money for the facility will apparently come from private donations. UC can't afford it. The school is in deep debt, tens of millions of dollars in debt. One estimate had it $115 million in the hole, the athletic department alone $22 million in the 'red'.

I'm happy for Kelly, and for long suffering UC football fans. He's talked the talk and, last season, walked the walk.

Well, here we go. With the Bengals now assured a losing season for the first time under Marvin Lewis, you're beginning to hear voices around the country speak out on the NFL's most disappointing team. I have said, consistently, that this team needs 'fresh eyes' to evaluate talent. Too long, it's relied on the same people (and not nearly enough scouts) to evaluate college talent for the annual draft and potential free agent talent inside the NFL. It's a players league. And it doesn't matter how your coaching staff performs week to week and game to game, if you don't have players, you don't win.

Now hear another voice, Pro Football Weekly, on it's website, has this on the current state of the Bengals from one of its editors.

And from the web site profootballtalk.com, increasingly a destination for any serious football fan, here's a very interesting story on their daily blog today. Just click the link.

Both of the Bengals coordinators, Bob Bratkowski on offense and Chuck Bresnahan, are under contract for 2008. The Brown family isn't one to pay people to not work. So my guess is both will be back. The shouldn't be. Bratkowski seems to have lost his ability to see the 'big picture' with his side of the ball. And Breshnahan hasn't done anything this season, when it mattered, to make you believe the defense will get better with time.

Who Dey?

Unfortunately this season, there’ve been a lot of ‘Deys’. The Seahawks, the Browns, the Chiefs for God’s sake. You want to pick a bad day for the Bengals this season, you’ve got a lot of options this season.

Bengal fan, congratulations, you have now arrived at your team’s 16th non winning season in the last 17.

I asked this question last night: would it not have been better that 2005 never happened? Would it have been better, if 2005 was just like all the other seasons of bad football we’ve had around here? That way, we wouldn’t have been into believing that a Super Bowl was just around the corner. See, I didn’t drink the cool aid that year. Because I knew, the Bengals defense wasn’t that good it. It was merely good at taking away the football. And as a wise man once said, take aways to a defense are like Max Factor to a model: they cover a lot of blemishes. Actually, the wise man who said that was Dave Lapham, one of his many Lapham-isms. The Bengals had a lot of take aways on defense in 2005. Lot of big plays. Odell Thurman, Tory James, Deltha O’Neal,. Interceptions, fumble recoveries, big plays. But invariably, when a team has as many ‘takes’ as the Bengals had in 2005, it evens out the following year. 2006, not as many take aways. 11-5 in 2005, 8-8 in 2006. Not so many take aways in 2007, either.

I knew, a lot of football watchers around here knew, the Bengals were a big play defense that could get dragged up and down the field. Fast forward to now, not so many big plays, defense that gets dragged up and down the field. It’s been better for the defense lately, but not good enough.

That year, that one year, gave us a taste of what the other world was like, the world that lives in a championship race every season. But ever since, it’s been back to Bengal reality.

I decided I wouldn’t trade 2005 for another season of mediocrity, or worse. It was fun, it was 1988 all over again. But why haven’t we been back there again? Why was it one and done.

Lot of reasons. When you crash and burn in sport, it’s never one thing that gets you. It’s a lot of reasons. In the Bengals case, it’s been suspensions, injuries, and some whiffs on draft day and free agency.

Until game nine this season, the top three Bengals picks from 2005 were missing. Their top pick from 2003 has been nothing but injured. Their second round pick from this year never got out of training camp.

The Bengals chase free agents in the winter time, but not big time free agents. Instead of Adalius Thomas, we get Kendrick Allen and Ed Hartwell. Thomas is on an undefeated team today. Allen and Hartwell were cut before the season began.

And the whiffs on draft day have been killers. Keiwan Ratliff, a second rounder, Dennis Weathersby, a fourth rounder, Reggie McNeal, Mathias Askew…too many.

You ask why the Bengals are 5-9 and the answers aren’t hard to find today. You ask will it be better in 2008 than 2007 and you have history to suggest no. You ask is it worth your trouble to watch this team for the final four games this season, and the answer is, yes.

First, let’s put the positives back into the equation. You live in a city that has something most American cities do not: a National Football League franchise. Never discount that. The NFL is a business with limited assets. There are only 32 teams. And, may God and Roger Goodell forbid, if we ever lost the Bengals, we’d never, as in ever, get another team here again. We love Cincinnati, that’s why we live here. But the town is too small for the NFL to start all over again here.

Second, never lose sight that despite a 5-9 record, this is a team with some magnificent players. Three of the last four weeks, Carson Palmer has stunk it up. But he remains one of the top four quarterbacks in the league. Brady, the good Manning, Romo and Palmer. Period. TJ Houshmandzadeh is a Pro Bowler who’s hit his stride. Bobbie Williams can flat out mash block. Jonathan Joseph and Leon Hall are two young and long on potential corners. Madeiu Williams can run like a deer and hit like a moose. And when he concentrates on his job and not his hobbies, Chad Johnson can be simply terrific.

Third, these next few weeks will tell us who wants to be here, and more important perhaps, who doesn’t deserve to be here. Players quit. It’s human nature. The greats one don’t, the good ones don’t some do. Unfortunately, we’ve seen it around too often. Football is no different than your profession. You know it, when things go badly at your job, you’ve got co workers that pack it in, clock out ten minutes early rather than ten minutes later. Maybe take a 90 minute lunch break rather than an hour….when they have a couple of free minutes, they’ll shop on the internet rather than help a co worker with their work.

In football, it’s called ‘going through the motions’. You look like you’re playing the game, but you’re not. You’re not taking on blocks, not making the tackle, playing at something less than full speed. I’m not saying we’ll see that from any of the current Bengals. But watch for it. It will tell you who wants to be part of the solution around here, and who could be part of the problem.

And finally, the best reason to watch and care about the rest of this season is because this is your team. If you’re a real fan, you’re with the Bengals through thick and thin. We’ve had plenty of thin around here in the last 17 years. We’ve got practice dealing with that. But if you’re bought the tickets, use them. If you’ve bought the flat panel plasma TV use it. If you’ve got the Bose ear plugs, stick ‘em in. Be a real fan. It’s OK. We’re all going to be OK, someday. That’s one of the best part of life in Bengal-dom. We know better days are ahead. We’re just not sure of the year.

If you're awake on this Saturday night and near a radio, internet stream or XM channel 173, I'm about to begin a radio program called "Bengals Feedback". The stations are 700 WLW and 1530 WCKY in Cincinnati, two 50K watt 'flame throwers'.

We'll be discussing, the recent Bengals debacle in San Francisco. It was, to any player, fan or supporter of professional football in Cincinnati, embarrassing.

The Bengals defense, soft as ever, allowed Frank Gore to rush for his first 100+ yard game of the season. It allowed the NFL's worst offense to control the clock and the ball for 12 more minutes than the Bengals offense held onto it.

This team has serious, serious problems. It has a small core of players that are exceptional football players, but who's window of opportunity to win a championship is closing. Who do you keep? Who do you let go?

So if you're awake, join me. If you're in bed and you're reading this on Sunday, I'm back on 700 WLW at 9am EST for my regular Sunday Morning Sports Talk program. Maybe we can visit then.

You can check out my web site too: www.kenbroo.com.

Selig responds to Mitchell Report

Here's Selig's response to the Mitchell Report. Now let's see if his bite is a good as his bark.

The playoff races in the NFL continue. One of my favorite guests on my 700 WLW Sunday Morning Sports Talk show is Mike Florio from profootballtalk.com. Here's his video on which team he thinks is in line to grab that 6th and final playoff spot in the NFC.

Just posted a few minutes ago, the latest edition of Bengals Report The Podcast. Marc Hardin and I break down the Bengals vs 49ers game this Saturday night, on WLWT Channel 5 in Cincinnati. You can find it, on the front page of my web site: www.kenbroo.com.

The Mitchell Report is out. 85 names are listed of MLB players who've abused either steroids or human growth hormones. If Barry Bonds wasn't finished as a baseball player before, now he is. And probably Roger Clemens, too. Tonight, Clemens' lawyer says his client will fight to defend his name. I guess I'd say the same thing, too. But if Clemens was clean, why wasn't he talking to Mitchell while the investigation was in progress. The former senator said today he invited every one of the named players to testify. Few did.


The real issue here should be who condoned this behavior. Why did the players union fight the investigation? Why did the players voluntarily go alone with the union? Why did Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig wait until he had cover from this investigation to speak out?


My guess is, when the final bell has been sounded in this fight, there will be plenty of people to take the blame. Baseball is, above all others, a sport that sanctifies statistics. Has been from the first time Abner Doubleday measured basepaths. How now, does MLB deal with players who've won batting titles, Cy Young awards and home run championships? Selig has a lot to think about. And, there are a lot of voices on the subject around the country tonight.


Here's a 'take' from Kevin Hench on foxsports.com.


And on si.com, Sports Illustrated's Michael McCann raises some interesting legal questions for those named in the Mitchell Report.

OK, you're the new (first ever) Bengals general manager. Which players are you keeping on the roster in 2008? You can let anyone go and can keep anyone you'd like. But, your total number of keepers is limited to eleven.

My list: Levi Jones, Bobbie Williams, Chad Johnson, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Rudi Johnson, Kenny Irons and Carson Palmer on offense.

Leon Hall, Jonathan Joseph, Madieu Williams and Robert Geathers on defense. That's my list.

Not keeping Chris Henry (can you trust him?) or DeDe Dorsey or Kenny Watson (flavors of the month) or Ahmad Brooks (can he stay healthy?) or Chris Perry (see Brooks) or Justin Smith (too much money).

What's your list? Let me know, leave a comment.

Maybe we should go after Brock Berlin this winter. Look at what foxsports.com is saying.

The latest Broo View Podcast is posted. You can find it in the "Podcasts & More" section of my web site http://www.kenbroo.com/.

PFTV: Late-season coaching change coming in Miami?

One of my favorite web sites is profootballtalk.com, expertly presided over by Mike Florio. I found this clip of his video podcast. The issue, can the Dolphins do the 'reverse Shula' and finish 0-16?

You always need to be wary of the phrase 'strength in numbers'. A lot of times, you've got numbers, but not a whole lot of strength. The Bengals believe one of the few bright spots in this lost season is the strength in numbers at running back. They've got a lot of them, at last count five that could fight for four jobs next summer.

Rudi Johnson is finally getting his stride back, after a nagging hamstring injury. Rudi has fallen out of favor with a lot of fans lately. But in bad weather, he's a good back. And the Bengals play a lot of games in bad weather. Then, there's Kenny Irons, the 2007 second round pick who's spent the entire season on the shelf. Irons blew out his knee in a pre season game this summer. But the Bengals drafted Irons to be their every down back, with Rudi moving to more of a short yardage, goal line guy (think "Bus"). You'd have to believe, the Bengals will give that strategy another shot next summer. Then, there are what I call the 'flavors of the month'. In October and November, when Rudi was out with his injury, fans fell in love with Kenny Watson. I host the "Bengals Feedback" show on 700 WLW and 1530 Homer after Bengals games. Actually, the name of the show should be "Bengals Group Therapy", the way this season has gone. Callers would scream for more Watson and howl for less Rudi. Now, the flavor of choice os DeDe Dorsey, who's a lightning quick runner, but seems to only get into the game for just a handful of plays. Dorsey, like Watson, provides a nice change up. But if you want to win ballgames in late November and December, you have to pound the ball. The Bengals best 'pounder' (pound for pound) is Rudi. Period.

Then, there's the oft injured and seldom seen Chris Perry, the number one pick from 2004. The addition of Irons in the 2007 draft seems to exclude Perry from the mix. He's again out for another season. But it wouldn't surprise me to see all of these guys back when the Bengals convene for 2008 camp next July. They're all under contract for 2008.

And if you believe this from Peter King on sportsillustrated.com, money won't be a factor. The Bengals are how much under the salary cap? Yikes!

Then, there's always Chick Ludwig in the Dayton Daily News who weighs in on the potential 2008 Bengals draft. I like Chick a lot, even though he never returns my phone calls, when I'm trolling for guests on my radio shows and WLWT's Sports Rock!

OK, it's posted and ready for your downloading enjoyment, the latest edition of "Bengals Report The Podcast". It's on the front page of my web site: www.kenbroo.com.

As you get ready to, or if you've just completed, slip-sliding to work in the greater Cincinnati area, here's something to chew on. Could Marvin Lewis be the next head football coach at Michigan? Stop laughing and start looking at this latest video from profootballtalk.com

Mike Florio runs profootballtalk.com and has been a guest of mine on 700 WLW Sunday Morning Sports Talk. Mike is the guy on the right.

Honestly, I don't think Marvin is moving on, for two reasons. One, he'd never get a release from the Brown family. He's under contract through 2011. Two, Marvin is so far removed from his college coaching days (and he was only a low level assistant) that recruiting would be something he'd have to learn all over again. My guess is, Marvin stays and tries to repair the Bengals, while repairing his resume. If he leaves here, my guess is he leaves here after 2011 for another NFL head coach's job...if he fixes the Bengals.

Redsfest 2007 begins today and continues through tomorrow (Saturday). The Reds might have some news soon, if you believe what the Toronto Sun is saying in this story.

And Dusty Baker, guest of honor at a reception Friday night at the Freedom Center in Cincinnati is talking up his first ever Reds team to the Chicago Tribune.

Me? I think the Reds are still one, good starter away from contending. And his name is not Jon Leiber, rumored to be on the Reds short list. Seems like the only team Leiber ever defeats, is the Reds.

Look for the latest "Bengals Report Podcast" on the front page of my web site www.kenbroo.com later today. Marc Hardin, the executive editor of "Bengals Report", and I have a preview of the Bengals vs Rams game this Sunday.

I'm talking sports a lot, on the radio this weekend. I'll be on 700 WLW from 6pm-7:30pm EST Saturday. Then back on Sunday for my regular "Sunday Morning Sports Talk" shift from 9am-11:30am EDT on both 700 WLW and 1530 Homer WCKY. The shows will be streamed on both station's web sites, as well as on XM Channel 173.

And after the Bengals game, I'll be back on both stations for "Bengals Feedback".

Sunday night, after the NFL On NBC, join George Vogel, Dave Lapham, David Fulcher and me on WLWT Channel 5's Sports Rock! It's always the last, best word on the Bengals.

Sounds like the Reds are trying to deal at the winter baseball meetings but are meeting the same road block at each turn. Every team wants the best prospect the Reds have had in almost a decade: outfielder Jay Bruce. You'd be hard pressed to find any deal the Reds would accept that would include Bruce leaving the team. With a twinkle in his eye, Dusty Baker said today he expects a flurry of trading after teams leave the meetings in Nashville, making you wonder if the Reds are using these meetings to simply 'line their ducks' up.


Now, if they pursue this trade...yikes. Scroll down and look.


They did a little business Wednesday, trading away infielder/outfielder Buck Coats. Baker had to know him and his limitations, since Coats came to the Reds from the Cubs and Baker is only a year removed from that organization. The real surprise was the outright release of infielder, Jorge Cantu, thought to be in line for serious playing time this coming season. Cantu joined the team at the end of July and hit .298 in 27 games. Reds GM Wayne Krivsky liked the guy. Apparently, Dusty didn't.


Sounds like contract negotiations between UC and head football coach, Brian Kelly, on an extention have hit a snag. USA Today quotes UC athletic director, Mike Thomas: "It'll be no different in this situation than it was with Mark (Dantonio)." It's part of a fascinating story on how coaches play the money game which you can read here.


Heisman finalists were announced tonight. All due respect to the other three, I don't see how Tim Tebow, Florida's 20-20 man doesn't win.

Random thoughts on a random Tuesday night waiting for 'white death' to hit the Tri-State. Nothing like a forecast for a good inch or two of snow to set off panic...OK, you go out and drive in it with those morons who think rear wheel drive is the only way to go....Oh, wait a minute, I have rear wheel drive...ooops.


No trades for the Reds yet. Apparently, most teams that have what the Reds want (pitching) want what the Reds won't give up (Jay Bruce). My guess is, there's middle ground somewhere that will get a potential third or fourth starter here for less of a price (Edwin Encarnacion, Ryan Freel?). But the deal may not get done until everyone is back from Nashville...Why trade Bruce if everyone else thinks he's the real deal and he's a home grown talent. Look at the Rockies, most of them are home grown....

A wonderful man has received a tremdous gift from his fans. Joe Nuxhall died a few weeks ago. But the long time Reds broadcaster is the overwhelming vote getter from baseball fans, according to the Baseball Hall Of Fame. It's only a piece of the puzzle. Nuxie and two other broadcasters now join seven others selected by a committe. That pool of ten will produce one winner this year of the Ford Frick Award and induction into the Hall. You did your part. Now let's hope the committee has heard you and inducts The Old Lefthander.

The Bengals may be out of the playoff race, but the season isn't over. They've got four games to play and should make every attempt to win all of them. That could be a spring board for a fast start in 2008. Look at home 2006 ended: three straight losses. You don't think that carried over to this season, when the Bengals started 1-4? What was the worse Bengal loss this season? At Cleveland? At Kansas City? Home against the Cardinals? I'm asking now, just hoping the answer at the end of the year isn't at Miami.....amazing, isn't it, that so many national 'experts' think that's when the Dolphins will get their first win, when the Bengals arrive in Miami on December 30.

The latest "Broo View Podcast" is up and running on my web site, http://www.kenbroo.com/. It's in the "Podcasts & More" section. Good stuff on Sunday's Bengals vs Steelers game, if I do say so myself. The latest "Bengals Report Podcast" will be on http://www.kenbroo.com/ Wednesday morning. You can find that on the front page.

What do you think of my 'widgets" to the right that gives you the current weather here in Cincinnati and links to top sports stories from ESPN? Check out the countdown to opening day here in Cincinnati. Technology....

Oklahoma wins, Ohio State is in. West Virgina loses, LSU is in. If you’re a Buckeye fan, I’m happy for you. If you’re a college football fan, someone who loves the sport, not the individual team, I feel for you.

This whole thing is a joke.

There is no way on God’s green earth that a team should go from fifth, to third to championship game without playing a game. But that’s exactly what Ohio State has done, since beating Michigan. LSU & Kansas lost last week, Ohio State moved up to third. Oklahoma beat Missouri Saturday night, Pitt beat West Virginia, and OSU moves up to the top spot and a berth in the national championship game. Excuse Jim Tressel if he’s saying today…this’d be a helluva job, if we didn’t have to play those damn games.

I’ve got nothing against Ohio State and if I did, I’d have the sense to keep my mouth shut about it. It’s not about Ohio State, it’s about the ‘state’ of division one college football. The whole thing is a joke, and you’re the butt end of it.

One-A football has a playoff, two-a, three-a, every level of NCAA basketball has a playoff except, of course, the one NCAA sport that the entire world follows, Division One football. Everybody follows it. People who don’t know if a football is blown up or stuffed follow NCAA Division One college football. On the grand scale of sports, it plays number two to the NFL’s number one.

People get geeked about the NCAA division one basketball tournament, but only because of the brackets. They want to win their office pool, be the only ones at work to correctly predict Princeton will knock off Washington State and have Villanova going all the way. That’s the allure of the NCAA tournament.

But college football? College football is a social event as much as a sport. It’s parking on the edge of campus and walking through the reds and yellows of autumn leaves on the way to the stadium. It’s your college band playing your college fight song. It’s taking your wife back to your school to watch


your team and running into your college sweetheart. Don’t think that hasn’t happened once or twice.

It’s stopping by the drive through on Friday night so you’ve got the brewskis in the fridge for at least 12 hours before kickoff. It’s inviting your friends over to watch your team play on your brand new 42-inch flat panel.

College football is high fives, groans, cheers and wondering exactly what drug the offensive coordinator is on when he calls an off tackle run on third and 14.

So why is Division One college football ‘not’ good enough for a playoff?

When the argument for one came up many years ago we first heard ‘well, we wouldn’t want to disrupt the sanctity of the bowl system. The bowls game operators would be compromised by a playoff system. (emphasis on the word operators). How could you have a national championship game in the Rose Bowl without offending the Orange Bowl and making the Cotton Bowl feel less important. Guess what? That’s exactly what we’ve got now, with no playoff. The Orange Bowl and the Rose Bowl and every other bowl game doesn’t get to host the national title game. And the Cotton Bowl hasn’t been a major New Year’s Day destination for years.

Lately we’ve heard, ‘well, we couldn’t extend the season, the student-athletes would miss too much time in the class room. The can’t be playing football three weeks into January. Of course, these same academians, so far removed from the real world that they suffer panic attacks when leaving campus, have no trouble letting student-athletes play three weeks of basketball in March. Or look the other way when a senior football player stops going to class and starts going to draft camps after Christmas.

The whole thing is a joke.

But you know what? I’ve got a solution. It’s always better to be part of the solution, than part of the problem. So while I was watching Oklahoma beat Missouri Saturday night, I came up with a plan. Call it the Broo plan.


My wife, the first Mrs. Ken likes to tell me I’m long on plans and short on delivery. So let me deliver my plan for a Division One college football playoff.

First, no team plays more than eleven regular season games. Eliminate the conference championship games. You won’t need them. They simply exist as money makers for conferences. You’ll make so much money with this plan, believe me, everybody will be happy. Everybody.

My plan would call for the the top 12 teams, plus one, to play off for the national title. The 13 would be decided by the same folks who decided on the rankings up until this BCS nonsense began: the football writers, broadcasters and the coaches. One poll, 13 teams.

Each team would be seeded. The number one team would draw a bye until the semi-finals.

13 teams, 12 games in the first round of games. 12 teams, six games in the second. In round three, reseed the teams, the number ranked team would play the fourth seeded team. Two would play three.

On championship weekend, you would decide the national champion.

Now think about this. Most, if not all of college football’s regular season is done, as of last night. Most, if not all of colleges on the quarter system are finished for the holiday break by the end of this week. Most schools on semesters….most….are finished by December 20. When do the bowl games begin? Right….just about every year on December 20.

If the team ranked number one entering the playoffs wins the championship, it will play 13 games. The team it faces, if number one gets that far, would play a maximum of 15. Bowl eligible teams play 12 regular season games as it is now. And a lot of them have a lot of time off in between their regular season finale and their bowl game. Look at Ohio State.

What about the teams below the top 13? Well, remember, there are 32 bowl games. My system would need 12 bowls or sites to whittle down to one


champion. That leaves 20 other current bowl games that need teams. That’s 40 more team. That would mean the top 53-teams in the country would play in a post game season game. Do we really need more than that?

Think of the excitement, the hype. Number 11 Cincinnati gets to play number two Kansas in week one at the Holiday Bowl…or the Music City Bowl….winner moves onto the Capital One Bowl in Orlando.

UC fan tell me you wouldn’t want that, instead of what you got for your troubles this season.

Number one LSU, let’s say, lying in wait in Baton Rouge, watching all of this play out, the chatter on radio stations like this one all about whether or not the teams playing will be tired by the time LSU joins the party….or will LSU be rusty and primed for an upset when Ohio State gets ahold of them.

It’s be crazy. It’s be good. It makes too much sense not to do it. Bu that’s probably why the NCAA would never go for it. Probably why this time next year, somebody else who’s had a little too much to drink on a Saturday night will come up with another plan and talk about it on this radio station the next morning.

All I know is this: the NCAA’s BCS deal? The whole thing is a joke.